EVENTS HAPPENING IN YOUR AREA.
BEHIND THE SCENES, MOBILE MARKET, EMERGENCY FOOD BOXES AND MORE – APRIL 10
BEHIND THE SCENES AT SECOND HARVEST
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a lot of changes to our daily lives—including how we operate at Second Harvest. We talked to a few people on our Operations team to hear firsthand what it’s like to be working on the front lines of food insecurity right now and what they want the community to know about hunger during this crisis. Watch this video to hear from them.
MOBILE MARKET
On April 9, Second Harvest held a Mobile Market distribution at the Spokane Valley Mall. The distribution served more than 730 families—Second Harvest’s largest Mobile Market in its history. Families received a mix of produce and dry goods to help them through the financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
TRANSITION TO PREPACKED EMERGENCY FOOD BOXES
Second Harvest is transitioning to distributing primarily prepacked emergency food boxes to respond to the growing need for food fueled by the disruption to our communities caused by COVID-19. Boxes containing fresh and nonperishable food items are distributed to our partner network, as well as at Mobile Market events and directly to people’s homes through Spokane Food Fighters. The emergency food box distribution model allows the people we serve, volunteers and staff to follow social distancing protocol and helps us keep pace with the growing need for food assistance in our community.
SPOKANE FOOD FIGHTERS
Second Harvest continues to partner with Spokane Food Fighters to serve people who are homebound during the COVID-19 pandemic. After two weeks, emergency food boxes were delivered to more than 600 families in Spokane. Learn more about Spokane Food Fighters here, and check out some photos of volunteers getting ready to deliver the boxes below.
WA FOOD FUND
Earlier this week, Governor Inslee announced the creation of the WA Food Fund to support hunger-relief organizations statewide, including Second Harvest. The fund was created to address the growing need for food assistance amidst the COVID-19 pandemic by sourcing large quantities of shelf-stable food for a coordinated statewide emergency food box program. Read more about the WA Food Fund and the growing need for food assistance here.
THE NATIONAL GUARD AT SECOND HARVEST
The National Guard has been an incredibly valuable asset at Second Harvest this week to assist with COVID-19 emergency response efforts. Members of the National Guard have assisted with food packing and distribution activities. Read more about their service at Second Harvest here.
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Food Safety First: – April 19
In January and March, AIB International conducted audits of our facilities – the Pasco Distribution Center, the Spokane Distribution Center and the Wolff Family Child Hunger Solution Center. As has been the case for more than a decade, we received scores of 930 or higher, out of a possible 1000. Anything above 900 is considered exemplary.
While receiving high scores from AIB is important, we are equally proud of the fact that any day of the year, our team is always working to keep our buildings clean and our food supply safe. This speaks to the strong food safety culture we have here at Second Harvest.
A celebration of our volunteers – April 12
Volunteering doesn’t have to be a one-time thing and the individuals who volunteer at Second Harvest in Spokane and Pasco have proven that in many ways. Even though April is nationally recognized as Volunteer Month, our gratitude for your service is year-round. In the last couple of years, the Volunteer Center in Spokane has gone through various changes and adjustments to keep up with the increase in food demand, prompted first by COVID in 2020 and then by inflation. Even with the changes, our volunteer support has stayed and become even stronger. Our community is filled with mission-driven individuals to help us feed, nourish and build the community around us.
In The Kitchen: Food Waste Prevention Week – April 5
Earth Month is the perfect opportunity to reflect on our habits and how they impact the planet. We might think about how often we drive and take advantage of the nicer weather to bike to work, or maybe even grab some friends and family and find a river cleanup event for Earth Day. But did you know that you can make an impact without even leaving your house? In fact, reflecting on our cooking and grocery shopping habits has the potential to have a greater and long-lasting impact on our environment.
Feeding Eastern Washington and North Idaho
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